Jana Bennett

Contact Information

Curriculum Vita

Jana Bennett

Associate Professor

Full-Time Faculty

Profile

Jana Bennett is a moral theologian with a wide range of research interests and well-regarded publications, including a book on marriage and singleness (Water is Thicker than Blood: An Augustinian Theology of Marriage and Singleness, Oxford University Press 2008) and a book on technology use and theology (Aquinas on the Web? Doing Theology in an Internet Age, Bloomsbury, 2012). She also gives public lectures on marriage and sexuality, Christian asceticism, technology use, war and peace, and environmental care. See CV for a list of recent publications and lectures.

For the most recent popular writing she has done, visit the website she co-edits: catholicmoraltheology.com, a website that features work from 20 North American theologians on a range of subjects.

In her spare time, she runs the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program at Immaculate Conception Parish in Dayton, Ohio for ages three to nine. (See cgsusa.org for more information on this wonderful, contemplative, Montessorian religious education program.) She is married with three children.

Degrees

PhD, Duke University Dissertation Adviser: Stanley Hauerwas

MDiv, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

BA, The Colorado College

Professional Activities

Co-editor, catholicmoraltheology.com

Editorial board, Journal of Moral Theology

Board member, Ekklesia Project

Research Interests

Contemplation as moral theology

Augustine’s influence on moral theology

Marriage, singleness, and sexuality

Bioethics with a focus on disability

Technology use in contemporary life

Feminism and moral theology

Selected Publications

Single Author Books:

Water is Thicker than Blood: An Augustinian Theology of Marriage and Singleness (Oxford, 2008)

Aquinas on the Web? Doing Theology in an Internet Age (Bloomsbury, 2012)

Co-Author Books:

Free to Leave, Free to Stay: Fruits of the Spirit and Church Choice (Cascade, 2009)

Book Chapters:

“Not So Private: A Political Theology of Church and Family,” in Christian Political Witness, George Kalantzis and Gregory W. Lee, eds. Chicago: IVP Academic, 2014.

“Spiritual But Not Religious: What Faith Formation Means in the Age of ‘Nones’” in Liturgy (July 2015).

“We Do Not Know How to Love: Observations on Theology, Technology and Disability,” in Journal of Moral Theology, 4.1 (January 2015): 90-110.

Work in Progress:

Theological Considerations of Singleness, under contract with Oxford University Press.

Co-editor, Naming the Sins: Reflecting on the Seven Deadlies for Contemporary Catholics.

Silence of Ascent: A Moral Theology of Contemplation.

“Holy Abortion? The Nun of Watton and Medieval Bioethics,” in revision for journal submission.

“Virtue Ethics and Children’s Formation: A Montessorian Approach,” in revision for journal submission.

Media Expertise

Jana Bennett is co-editor of the blog catholicmoraltheology.com, where she writes on a wide range of issues in contemporary Catholic life, from sexual ethics to consumer culture to the intersection between politics and religion. Bennett maintains academic research in the following areas of Catholic thought: feminism, marriage, singleness, disability, technology use, and generational shifts in practicing the faith. She is currently writing a book called Single Life and the Christian Life under contract with Oxford University Press, and another book on hearing loss and the importance of contemplation.